I just wanted to thank everyone that has taken to time to send me a letter regarding the proposed changes/improvements to the game. I am not ignoring your mails.. there are just a bunch; I just don't have the to time to respond to each one individually at the moment (I started a new job last week and I'm still wrapping up my old contract position, so I'm essentially working 1 1/2 "real jobs" right now..).

The good news is this - by and large, most people are on the same page. First and foremost - there is still a lot of love for this little slice of the internet we created. There always concern that changes may knock us of course a little. The goal of involving everyone directly is to ensure that we make the best decisions in aggregate, not only to keep everyone "happy" but to ensure we are making the best decision for the longterm health of the game. My job is to cobble those ideas together and make that happen.

My impression after pouring through your e-mails is that primary change people are clamoring for isn't the "extended life span" of horses as much as being able to improve and maintain a horse's consistency during its peak cycle. The truth is - by and large, horses are run a lot more in the game than in real life, especially at 2 and 3 years old. Horses that are "babied" a bit more (similarly to their real life counterparts) can keep running at potentially higher levels (check out some of the horses on the EOY horse stats page), but their consistency wavers more than it should.

While I have been approached with a lot of ideas for improving these and other issues, our initial focus is going to be to allow players to improve the consistency of their horses. I don't believe anyone wants this consistency to be handed to them; it is my job to offer you ways not only to improve the consistency of your horses but allow ways to monitor how your changes are working. In other words - allow for players willing to "dig a bit more" to ensure their horses run more with consistency. I will be coupling ideas received with some of my own.

I will ponder on things a bit longer (as well as allow me time to gather more feedback), and post another update before next Monday.

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